Loose Leaf Notes

“One out of four people in this country is mentally unbalanced. Think of your three closest friends; if they seem OK, then you're the one.” ~ Ann Landers

I was tagged by Bill, the grad student who discovered my blog while taking a blog class at Trinity College and then brought it to the attention of his class. The class is over, but he’s still blogging. In the spirit of making friends and because 4 Things should be easier than 13 (tomorrow), my answers are as follows:

Four jobs I've had in my life: A Day Care Teacher, a Foster Care Provider for adults with developmental disabilities, a shopkeeper, and a self-employed jewelry maker. My strangest job was as a night watchman.

Four movies I could watch over and over: Here’s what it says about movies on my “About Me” blog bio-page: Just like I forget jokes right after they're told to me, I forget the names of movies after I see them. I recently saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and liked it. Also, I bragged about “Off the Map” right here on the blog. “Les Miserables” and “A Christmas Carol” woke me up to my spirit as a child.

Four places I've lived: I grew up on the peninsula of Hull in the South Shore of Boston, Massachusetts. I lived in Plymouth, right next to the rock, for a year. Small town Tomball, just north of Houston, Texas, is where my sons were born. I currently live in a log cabin off The Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia down a dirt road named after a Grateful Dead song.

Four TV shows I love to watch: The ones I catch while flipping around, usually on PBS. I don’t like to miss the news, real and otherwise. I only have 4 channels and don’t get Jon Stewart, so I settle for Tina Fay on “Saturday Night Live,” if I can stay up that late. Re-runs of Seinfeld beat out many of the current sitcoms, some of which I like, but I lose interest fast because the networks are cheap and air re-runs right in the middle of the season.

Four places I've been on vacation: I bought a Guinness T-shirt after hiking The Cliffs of Moher and pressing wild shamrocks into my journal in Ireland. I accidentally got drunk on Bailey’s Coladas in St. Croix, Virgin Islands, and walked home carrying a boom box that was playing Ziggy Marley. I swam at night under the stars in a phosphorescent bay in Puerto Rico and later composed a poem about it. I stayed in a bungalow owned by a Buddhist with 2 women friends on the coast of Oregon. I’ve also been to Aspen but didn’t go skiing.

Four websites I visit daily: I check in with Doug at Blue Ridge Muse and Fred at Fragments From Floyd most days because, like me, they’re from Floyd, and I don’t want to miss anything. I regularly visit my sister’s blog, A Persistent Point of View. Elissa at Hurricane Country and Michele Agnew might be a tie.

Four of my favorite foods: Eggs keep me healthy; homemade carrot cake keeps me happy; pasta with olive oil, garlic, basil, and pine nuts keeps me full; and seafood keeps my head on straight.

Four places I'd rather be: Walking barefoot on a beach at sunset, drinking good beer (or a cup of tea) in an Irish Pub with someone playing the Uilleann pipes in the background, soaking in a bathtub full of hot non-chlorinated water, spinning on a dance floor with the band of my choice playing my favorite songs.

Four albums I can't live without: I can’t think of 4 albums that I couldn’t live without, so I’m going to name 4 songs that had a profound influence on me at different times of my life: Get Together by Jessie Colin Young; I am a Child by Neil Young; Higher Love (I manifested my husband by playing it over and over while dancing) by Steve Winwood; and the music from Peter and The Wolf, which I first heard as a young child. On the question of “favorite music” I am quoted on my blog bio-page as saying this: Lately I listen to Nora Jones, Sarah Mclaughlin or Sheryl Crow. My favorite band to dance to is Floyd's own “Foundation Stone.” I swoon over Eric Clapton's voice especially when he sings Layla (the acoustic version).

Four people I’m tagging if they want to be caught, all Loose Leaf visitors from yesterday: Melange, Here in the Hills, Harmonia’s Hut, Fond of Snape